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NASA buys $490 million Russian rides to ISS as funds fall short

Waiting to fly (Image&colon; NASA)

CAN I get a lift-off? A shortfall in funding for private space-flight firms means that NASA has been forced to pay Russia nearly half a billion dollars to transport US astronauts to the International Space Station, despite frosty relations between the two nations.

When the US retired its space shuttles in 2011, NASA made plans to fly its astronauts on privately developed spacecraft made by the likes of SpaceX. The aim was to start the space-taxi service this year, but US Congress has given NASA about a billion dollars less than it requested for the programme since 2011, and the first launches are now due in 2017.

In the meantime, NASA has relied on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to reach the ISS, paying the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) for the privilege.

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The Russian annexation of Crimea last year has made this politically more difficult.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden has written to Congress warning that it has been forced to extend its contract with Roscosmos, at a cost of &dollar;490 million for six seats on Soyuz spacecraft over the next two years. That works out at nearly &dollar;82 million per ride, up from the &dollar;71 million NASA paid in 2013.

“While I understand that funding is extremely limited, it is critical that all of NASA’s human spaceflight efforts be supported,” wrote Bolden.

This article appeared in print under the headline “US buys more Russian ISS trips”